Supreme Court is told to ‘develop a backbone’

Published on Wednesday 21 December 2011 00:00

SCOTTISH judges in the Supreme Court should develop the “backbone” to stand up to Europe after a “near catastrophic” ruling for the criminal justice system, a senior legal figure has said.

Lord McCluskey said justices at the UK’s highest court “kowtowed” to judges in Strasbourg when they made the “flawed, mistaken and misconceived” Cadder ruling in October 2010.

The retired judge and former solicitor general for Scotland said his position was vindicated by a subsequent decision of seven Supreme Court judges who refused to follow a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling.

Writing in a national newspaper, Lord McCluskey said: “In their approach to human rights law, it is good to see that English judges and lawyers have backbones and are willing to stand up for their legal system and parliamentary legislation: the sooner Scottish members of the Supreme Court follow their example the better.”

At the heart of the debate is the Cadder case in which the Supreme Court in London ruled the holding of suspects in Scotland for six hours for questioning without access to a lawyer breached the ECHR.

Lord McCluskey said the ruling was a “disaster”, adding: “A system … was rejected because Strasbourg judges gave it no consideration whatsoever, [and] purported to make a universally applicable rule based on the abuse of a suspect whose rights had been trampled upon by Turkey’s security police and judiciary.”

Subsequently, he wrote, the Crown had to drop hundreds of legitimate prosecutions.

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SlyFifer

Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 08:19 AM

Once Scotland adopts it's own Constitution then all these problems with interference with our Judicial system shall be addressed and no more interfererence from anywhere shall be entertained. Simple really, so many issues which effect us can so readily be addressed by such a document. The old Declaration of Arbroath is no longer enough for the modern world we live in.

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KINGFISHER1

Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 12:19 AM

4. A mistake with the word ALL. TECHNICAL HYFRYDOL + BLAENWERN I have posted elsewhere on Point. I have made a specific point here. I listen to the words of the former Scottish Judge. He uses the word Kow Tow. My MONIKER hides THAT DRAGON.The Chinese would say BLUE YADE DRAGON!!! Today they are not taught to respect DRAGONS. I see the words of the Politburo Minister. He SPECIFICALLY insults the DRAGON!!! The Bird's Nest Stadium! A SPECIFIC DRAGON BIRD!!! One third of the Worlds Population!!! I simply turn my face away !!! Most of the Scottish lawyers,were mainly talking mince,and not even good Aberdeen Angus or Belted Galloway!!! The former Scottish Judge makes a VERY VALID POINT,which should be acted upon IMMEDIATELY!!! RESERVED AND REDACTED COMMENTS. TRIPLE RESERVED AND REDACTED. I am doing TECHNICAL. The music soothes, FORTUNATELY!!! So does the Blue Wine. I am sleepy DRAGON!!! I AM PREPARED TO RECALL THE DRAGON AMBASSADOR,and to BREAK GALACTIC LINKS. The planet could very speedily end up like MARS!!!

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Kinghob

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 10:36 PM

So when all the British lawyers and so called scots ones and of course the Scots media and BBC were making such supportive noises about the cadder ruling showing Scots law did not support human rights.........they were talking mince? Now that English supreme court judges have said it is a wrong ruling everything is ok?

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KINGFISHER1

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 05:44 PM

RESERVED and REDACTED COMMENTS. AT FORMAL NOT CHUFFED DRAGON Strasbourg and Paris are on the list of 31 Global,Not Reserved Cities,as is London. Catherine the Great!!!

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Broon Bairn

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:12 AM

No.1 Yes, for a so-called "Supreme Court" ,which was dreamed up by Tony Blair on the back of a fag-packet as a replacement for the House of Lords, to over-ride one of the oldest and fairest systems in the world is nothing short of a scandal. Once againm others have poked their noses into our affairs, without being asked to do so, and the results have been a shambles. The sooner our independent legal syatem is freed from the influence of outside politicos and charlatans, often with agendas completely at odds with ours, the better.

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samcoldstream

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 10:38 AM

Scots Law is one of the oldest tried and tested legal systems in the world. Nowhere else on earth is there a criminal law system based on extensive and lengthy corroboration. In Scotland, an accused person cannot be held untried (on remand) for longer than 140 days, and until 2005 this used to be 110 days. Unlike the rest of the world, there is no requirement for Habeas Corpus to protect accused held without trial. Yet, the perverse Cadder Ruling xdecided by the UK Supreme Court and European Law which affected Turkey has resulted in major changes to Scots Law? Turkey has had more military governments than hot dinners. Under Turkish Law No. 5651 - the courts in that country can shut down an internet website if it attacks Kemal Ataturk, in this case YouTube, which was closed to Turkish consumers for 30 months. Turkey still has a massive Secret Police apparatus which carries out criminal acts on behalf of the State. The Kurds in Turkey are second class citizens. In the past 10 years, eleven journalists, one judge, and hundreds of Kurds have been killed or disappeared in Turkey without trace and the authorities have done nothing about it.

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